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The Washington 

Monument 

GREEN STREET ENTRANCE 

FAIRMOUNT PARK 

PRESENTED TO THE CITY OE PHILADELPHIA 

BY THE 

STATE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI 



DEDICATED 

MAY 15th, 1897 



OFFICE OF THE 

COMMISSIONERS OF FAIRMOUNT PARK 
CITY HALL, ROOMS 127-129 






ALBERT ANDERMAN 

SEVENTH &. FILBERT STREETS 
PHILADELPHIA 



(S 



jNE of the most important and^ imposing 
monuments ever erected in America is 
the equestrian statue of George Wash- 
ington, which has been presented to the City of 
Philadelphia by the State Society of the Cincin- 
nati, standing at the Green Street entrance of 
Fairmount Park. 

In the year 1783 the officers of the Revolu- 
tionary War, wishing to form some means "to 
perpetuate their friendship and to raise a fund for 
relieving the widows and orphans of those who 
had fallen during the war," organized the Society 
of the Cincinnati. In after years this Society 
grew into a social organization of great strength 
and prominence. 



They began in 1810 to raise a fund of 
$150,000 to build a monument to their first Presi- 
dent, Commander and Friend, George Washing- 
ton, but with the excitement, troubles and hard 
times following the war of 1812 this movement 
was stopped temporarily. When Lafayette vis- 
ited this city in 1824, the absence of any monu- 
ment caused some adverse criticism and the 
citizens in a fervor of patriotism started to raise 
a new fund, which was soon forgotten but was 
revived in 1832, on the one hundredth anniver- 
sary of Washington's birth. 

The fund of 1810 had in 1880 grown into 
$137,000, owing to judicious investments; like- 
wise the fund of 1824 and 1832 by careful hus- 
bandry had grown into $50,000. The union of 
these funds, together with their further increase 
by investment and donations, now formed the 
money to pay for this splendid memorial, costing 
in all over $250,000. 



The design is one made by the celebrated 
German sculptor, Rudolph Siemering, and repre- 
sents an equestrian statue of General Washington, 
on an immense pedestal of bronze placed on 
a granite platform or base, forming the most im- 
posing as well as costly monument ever erected 
to any American, with but the single exception 
of that monument of the same name at the 
National Capitol. 

The figures and ornaments are all in bronze, 
and the monument as it now stands is forty-four 
feet high. 

The base of this monument is oblong in 
shape, 61 x 74 feet, built of pink Swedish granite, 
having thirteen steps, symbolical of the thirteen 
original states. At the corners are fountains 
representing the four great American rivers, the 
Delaware, Hudson, Potomac, and Mississippi, 
with allegorical figures of Indians immediately at 



hand. These fountains are guarded on either 
side by native animals as the Moose, Elk, Bison 
and Bear, all in bronze. 

These four fountains, almost complete in 
themselves, form, as a whole, one of the most 
unique and attractive finishes for a base ever 
designed. 

The Hudson River fountain has on either 
side a superb moose, it being native game and 
once so plentiful throughout New York and the 
New England States. At the rear of the fountain 
is a reclining figure of an Indian woman, repre- 
sented as having returned from fishing, holding a 
seine, while lying around her are a pike, flounder, 
and a fine salmon, together with sea shells, cat- 
tails and aquatic plants. 

The Delaware River fountain has on each 
side magnificent bronzes of the king of the plains, 
— the bison. An Indian chief, decorated with 

8 



eagle feathers in his hair, and a string of wild 
animal teeth for a necklace and skins around his 
loins, lies on a skin, holding his trusty bow and 
arrow, while a skull at his feet and an eagle 
hung around his neck show very clearly his 
prowess. 

The next fountain represents the Potomac 
River with a fine elk on either side. It, too, has 
a bronze figure at the back — an Indian squaw 
holding a paddle. At her feet are some water lilies 
and crawling around her is a huge snake. 

At the fourth fountain, the Mississippi River, 
we have on the right a large steer, on the left a 
bear with a horse's head between his paws, show- 
ing that it is just finishing a meal. Immediately 
back of these is another figure of an Indian hold- 
ing in his hand a trident or harpoon, and a dead 
alligator shows that he too has been successful 
in the hunt. 



From the platform rises a granite and bronze 
pedestal some seventeen feet high, while as a 
crown is the bronze equestrian statue of General 
Washington in the uniform of the Revolutionary 
Army, holding in his hand a pair of field glasses. 
A large military cloak is thrown over his shoulders 
and falls well over his horse. 

At the front of the pedestal is an allegorical 
group representing America, seated, holding a 
trident and cornucopia. On either side is a figure, 
one holding a scroll, the other offering a wreath. 
Broken shackles show that they have thrown off 
their slavery and have gained their freedom. 
Below is an American eagle supporting the arms 
of the United States. 

The group at the back is another bas-relief 
of America, holding in her hands two spears and 
a sword, showing her sons their condition of 

slavery and rousing them to go forth to liberty. 

10 



At her feet are two men, representing her sons, 
one holds in his hand a shovel; the other a musket, 
showing that for the time peaceful pursuits must 
be given up for the struggles of war; beneath 
this group are the arms of Pennsylvania. 

Bronze bas-reliefs are on either side of the 
pedestal, one representing the march of its army, 
the other that of a west-bound emigrant train. 
Over these groups are engraved the names Small- 
wood, Sterling, Moultrie, DeKalb, Putnam, 
Wayne, Warren, Nash, Steuben, St. Claire, 
Schuyler, Kosiusko, Morgan, Sullivan, Lincoln, 
Irvine, Kirkwood, Jay, Cadwalader, Dickinson, 
Muhlenberg, Haslet, Jefferson, Mercer, Franklin, 
Mifflin, Hamilton, Varnum, Pinkney, Hazeh, Clin- 
ton, Barry, Jones and Dale. Immediately under 
the statue and running around the pedestal are 
the words, " Erected by the State Society of the 
Cincinnati of Pennsylvania." 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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